Breaking news: Bogotá-Villavicencio road reopens tomorrow

The Minister of Transportation, William Camargo, has just confirmed from the Unified Command Post that the Bogotá-Villavicencio highway will be reopened as of tomorrow, only during daylight hours. For now, only cargo vehicles will be allowed to pass.

After the landslide on the Bogotá-Villavicencio highway that caused a total closure and heavy traffic congestion, the Bogotá-Villavicencio highway is completely closed as of Friday, due to a landslide that took place at kilometer 58 + 600, in the municipality of Guayabetal.

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So far, the road closure has caused great material losses. According to Jorge Bedoya, president of the Sociedad de Agricultores de Colombia (SAC), “more than 1,200 tons of pork are leaving the Llano to the center of the country and in the case of chicken, more than 1,900 tons. There is still 40% of the rice harvest to be shipped”.

Bedoya insisted in his X account that “Support must be given to producers for the cost overruns and losses generated by this situation” and that “A government that has a checkbook and royalties available must contribute to structural solutions”.

The road closure has been attributed to the strong earthquakes that have shaken the central part of the country in the last few days, which have caused damage to the road infrastructure, as well as to several landslides and heavy rainfall in the region in the last few months.

So far, no date or time has been set for the reopening of the road, due to the magnitude of the landslide and rockslides.

The total closure of the road has generated heavy traffic congestion in the south of Bogota. The competent authorities have urged citizens to avoid traveling through the area until they have clear and precise information on the reopening of the road. They have also asked them to avoid parking on the side of the road while waiting for it to be reopened.

Coviandina, for its part, has recommended taking alternative routes in case it is necessary to travel urgently to Villavicencio.

The Ministry of Transportation has recommended drivers of passenger buses and vehicles transporting elderly people or children to return to their place of origin, due to the road closure situation.

Alternate routes

For those who need to travel urgently to Villavicencio and who do not drive a cargo vehicle, Coviandina has proposed two alternative routes: The first involves the route Bogotá-Sisga-Guateque-San Luis de Gaceno-El Secreto-Algarrobo-Villanueva-Barraca-Paratebueno-Cumaral-Restrepo-Villavicencio. The second option runs from Bogotá-Sisga-Tunja-Paipa-Duitama-Sogamoso-Aguazul-Monterrey-Algarrobo-Villanueva-Barranca-Paratebueno-Cumaral-Restrepo-Villavicencio.

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It should be noted that the Transversal del Sisga is limited to light and non-articulated vehicles weighing less than 30 tons and without oversized cargo. In addition, a single-lane restricted passage has been warned at PR 35+050, a sector located between Guateque and Sisga, due to road affectations.

Authorities and the concessionaire are working to resolve the situation and reopen the road as soon as possible, while drivers and citizens in general remain attentive to updates on this incident, which has left great material losses and multiple affectations to the neighbors in the area.

What caused the landslide on the Bogotá-Villavicencio road?

The heavy rainfall that has affected Colombia in recent months has played a fundamental role in the degradation of the soil and the stability of the Bogotá-Villavicencio road, according to the National Infrastructure Agency.

The rains have saturated the ground, weakening the soil layers and causing landslides. This has led to increased erosion and created conditions conducive to the formation of sinkholes, undermining the structural integrity of the road, the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies has said.

In addition, water flows resulting from rainfall have contributed to the undermining of the road’s foundations, exacerbating the fragility of the infrastructure. The existing drainage systems have proven to be insufficient to handle the volume of water, which has increased the pressure on the structure and further weakened its resilience.

Moreover, the earthquakes that have shaken Colombia in recent days have added an additional dimension to the disaster. The seismic activity has further disturbed the already unstable base of the Bogotá-Villavicencio road.

The vibrations resulting from the tremors have accelerated the collapse process, further weakening the integrity of the ground and contributing to the emergence of cracks and subsidence.

Geologists and other experts point out that the combination of heavy rains and seismic activity has created a destructive synergy, in which earthquakes exacerbate the effects of erosion caused by the rains and vice versa. This interaction has been a determining factor in the rapid deterioration of the road, resulting in the collapse of part of it.

The collapse of the Bogotá-Villavicencio road has not only impacted the mobility of citizens and trade between the two cities, but has also revealed the urgent need to reevaluate the country’s infrastructure in terms of resilience to extreme natural events.

Now, authorities are faced with the monumental task of rebuilding and reinforcing the road to prevent similar collapses in the future.

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